Meaningless?

“‘Meaningless! Meaningless!’ says the Teacher. ‘Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless.’ What does man gain from all his labour at which he toils under the sun?” Ecclesiastes 1:2-3
Let me say upfront that Ecclesiastes is not my favourite book of the Bible. Yet it is there for a reason: it shows us the conclusion we come to if we ignore the fact that life goes on into eternity after we die.
If this life is all there is, then yes, life is meaningless and unfair. Solomon writes in this book about his pursuits of wisdom (1:12ff), pleasure (2:1-11), working (2:17ff), etc. and found that none of them endure after one dies. If a man builds a great business and makes lots of money, it goes as an inheritance to a child who may squander it all. What does it matter, Solomon argues, if a person is wise or foolish, righteous or unrighteous? Everyone dies in the end.
But here is where we need to have the right perspective. It does matter what we do in this life. One day there will be a judgement seat, and every person whose sins have not been judged at the cross of Jesus Christ, will have to stand before God and be judged. Murderers who got away with their crimes will not be able to escape this time. And for those of us who are in Christ, we will be rewarded for our work.
So next time you’re feeling like life is meaningless, take a step back and look at things from an eternal perspective.